Spray nozzle



July 21, 1959 F. D. AMMEN SPRAY NOZZLE Filed Aug. 17, less repA/c/s 0.#MME/V INVENTOR.

SPRAY NOZZLE. Francis D. Arnmen, Los Augeles Calif. Application August17, 1956, Serial No. 604,693

1 Claim. (Cl. 239-443) This invention relates to spray nozzles andparticularly to a type that operates as an attachment to be applied tothe end of a water supply tube such as commonly used above householdsinks. The nozzle is usually attached to a tubular arm swiveled so as toenable hot water or cold water or a mixture of the same to be deliveredinto either one of two separated basins.

A device for this purpose is now available, the body of which isconstructed of flexible material such as plastic or rubber. This deviceincludes a vertical flexible neck located above the delivery end of thenozzle, and by reason of the flexibility of this neck it can be bent inones hand to direct the water from the nozzle into diflerent parts ofthe basin to wash out soap suds or the like.

In the nozzleto which this invention is applied the lower end of thenozzle includes a downwardly flared extension, the lower end of whichcarries a delivery plate of disc form having a central orifice, andhaving a zone of perforations between the orifice and the edge of theplate.

A shutter for the central orifice is provided, in the form of a smalldisc which registers with the orifice and shuts off a compact stream ofliquid which otherwise could flow through it. This disc is carried on amovable arm the pivot for which is located near the edge of the plate,and a control lever for the arm is provided below the delivery platewhich projects outwardly and beyond the side of the nozzle.

By shifting the control lever on its pivotal connection to the sprayplate the shutter can be moved away from its position when it registerswith the orifice, to enable the compact stream of water to flowdownwardly through the orifice; and in the closed position of theshutter the water will be delivered in a spray descending throughout theperforated zone.

By reason of the presence of the flexible neck referred to above, it isgenerally necessary to hold the lower end of the nozzle with one handwhile applying force to the said lever with the other hand to shift itfrom one of its positions to the other; but it often happens that aperson using the sink may have a dish or the like held in one hand whenhe desires to shift the lever from one position to the other.

An object of the present invention is to overcome this slightdifliculty, and to provide means whereby the control lever referred tocan be shifted by using one hand only to move the control lever.

More specifically stated, an object of this invention is to providemeans mounted on the nozzle, the elements of which are disposed in sucha way as to enable the control lever to be shifted between its extremepositions by applying one hand only to the control lever andsimultaneously to the means which I provide to accomplish this object.

Further objects of the invention will be evident from States Patent a2,895,687 Patented July 21, 1959 A preferred embodiment of the inventionis described in the following specification, and pointed out broadly inthe appended claim.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation and partial section of a nozzle to which myinvention is applied.

Figure 2 is a bottom plane of a nozzle such as shown in Figure 1, butillustrating a different means that I may employ for providing the fixedhandles at each side of the control lever for accomplishing the objectsof this invention.

Figure 3 is a plan view of a spray plate blank that is formed withintegral extensions that can be used to form handles to cooperate withthe control lever to shift it to and from its position for spraying.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure2.

Referring more particularly to the parts, and especially to Figure 1,the nozzle body includes a tubular upper portion 1, having a peripherallip 2, which is of a flexible character soas to enable it to bestretched slightly and secured over an annular rib or head (notillustrated) which forms a projecting perimeter at the lower end of apivoted tube 3 which terminates in a downwardly extending goose neck.

The body of the nozzle includes a flexible waist or neck 4, comprisingtwo or more enlarged annular extensions 5, with relatively shortneck-portions 6 between the same.

The lower end of this flexible neck 4 carries the delivery end 7 of thenozzle which is of substantially conical form, that is to say, it isflared downwardly to define a delivery chamber 8, its lower endterminating in an inwardly turned flange 9. On the upper side of .thisflange 9 the edge portion 10 of a delivery plate or shower plate 11 islocated.

The body portion of this shower plate is off-set downwardly from theplane of the flange 10, and its central portion is provided with acircular orifice 12 (see Figure 2).

The outer or radially lateral zone of the plate 11 is provided with amultiplicity of perforations 13, and a shutter 14 is provided forclosing its central orifice.

This shutter 14 is in the form of a disc that registers with the orificeto shut off flow of the water stream through it, and when in this closedposition water flows down through the perforations in a spray 15 asindicated in Figure l.

The shutter 14 is carried on an arm 16 lying on the upper side of thedelivery plate 11 to which it is pivotally attached by a round shank 17that projects up from the inner end of a control-lever 18, the end ofwhich projects out beyond the periphery 19 of the flared lower end 7 ofthe nozzle. And the upper end of the circular shank terminates in anangular tang 20 that makes a nonrotatable connection through the arm 16.

From the construction just described it is evident that by swinging thecontrol lever 18 on its pivotal connection at 17, the shutter 14 can beswung to one side, that is, to a withdrawn position such as thatindicated by the dotted outline 14a in Figure 2.

In the open position for the shutter 14, when the water is turned on atthe faucet (not illustrated) it will pass downward in a compact streamor current through the orifice 12, but when the shutter is in place atthe orifice as shown in the drawing, all the water will pass downwardlythrough the perforations 13.

In accordance witlrm'y invention I provide the conical upper face of thedeliveryendfl pf the nozzle with two abutments such as the abutment 21(see Figure 1). These abutments may be in the form of substantial lugsor long bosses projecting in a generalradial direction from the outersurface of the conicalsurface of the nozzle adjacent its lower end. Theyproject outin a general radial direction with an angle of approximatelydOdegrees between them, and lie in a plane about perpendicular to thelongitudinal axis of the body of the nozzle. The same angle is shownbetween the tongues 25 in Figure 3.

If the nozzle is made of flexible material they may be molded integrallywith'it, Ifjthe material of the nozzle is very flexible the abutmentsmay be reinforced by stiffen; ing splints or long pins 23, composedof'metal' or other suitable material 'lhe presence of these splints. 23en ables the usual quite flexible material employed in this nozzle to beused. However, it is desirable to construct this nozzle of such flexiblematerial to facilitate placing the delivery plate assembly in position"above the flange 9 when introducing, and seating it in the flareddelivery end 7 of the nozzle.

In Figures 3 and 4 an embodiment of the invention is shown in which theblank 24 for the spray plate is provided with two integral extensions ortongues 25. The

blanking die cuts out the tongues from the plate stock but also makestwo cuts 26 that extend into the edge ofthe plate so as to form a neck'27 between them. Each tongue is then bent at 28 so that it extends outhorizontally and projects out beyond the edge of plate.

And in order to presenta flat face on the far side of each tongue to bepressed by ones finger or thumb, the material of each tongue is bent upat one edge to form a small flange 29. H

Many other embodiments of this invention may be resorted to withoutdeparting from the spirit of this invention.

4 I claim anddesire' to secure by Letters Patent:

A spray device for selectively delivering either a single relativelylarge stream of liquid or a plurality of relatively fine spray streams,comprising: a hollow flared body and having relatively small diameterflexible inlet neck, a plate mounted in closing relationship to the baseend of said body, said plate having a relatively large central dischargeaperture and a plurality of relatively small spray apertures surroundingsaid central aperture, a disklike valve member pivotally mounted on saidplate for swinging movement over a surface thereof into and out ofclosing relationship to said central aperture, a pair ofprojectiqnscarriedby said body, said projections extending radiallybeyond the periphery of said body and being spaced apartcircumferentially of said body, and a lever for actuating said valvemember, said lever being operatively connected to said valve member andprojecting radially outwardly beyond the periphery of said body betweensajdprojections for swinging movement therebetween to cause said valvemember to move between positions opening and closing said centralaperture whereby a user may engage a finger with one of said projectionswhile using another finger of the same hand to swing said lever towardssaid projection and thereby to balancethe forces exerted by said fingersto maintain said body substantially stationary.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

